Our Top 5 Interior Design Secrets

If you want your home to look like it’s been designed by a professional, without the hefty price tag, we’re sharing our top 5 interior design secrets to help you to create a stunning space in your house.

1. Always opt for odd numbers

Whether it’s candles or cushions, books or oak floating shelves, you always want to go for odd numbers, rather than even ones. Three – or even five – items grouped together look so much more interesting and visually attractive than two or four of the same thing.

This is the golden rule interior designers stick to, without fail, when putting the finishing touches in a room, which is why we’ve given it the number one spot on our list.

2. Highlight your fireplace

Fireplaces have come back into fashion in recent years, making them the ideal focal point in a room. Whether you intend to have a working fireplace (with a wood-burning stove, for example) or a non-functional statement piece, make sure you add in a wooden beam or a painted fireplace surround to frame the space.

3. Make sure you choose a consistent colour palette – and balance it

Go for three or four colours that you think work well together and stick to them. The majority of your space will be in one colour, with the other two or three colours serving to complement and accent your primary one.

Being strict with your colours like this will help to make sure that your space feels planned and professionally put together.

Conversely, just because you are sticking with a selection of colours, this doesn’t mean that you have to stay with only one style. If you like a more traditional feel to your home, complement this theme with a few contemporary items – and vice versa. As a rule of thumb, go for around 70% of your ‘base theme’ and 30% of items in a different style.

4. Update your interior design for the season

A really effective way to make your home feel up-to-date and welcoming, is to add in appropriate items for the time of year. For example, you could decorate your oak fireplace beam with pumpkins and pine cones for the autumn and switch to daffodils and pastel-coloured eggs in time for spring.

5. Paint your skirting board and ceiling to complement your space

Gone are the days when skirting boards and ceilings are automatically painted in white. A new trend is emerging for painting these areas in accent colours – or alternatively, in the case of skirting boards, to paint them the same colour as the wall.

Stick with your chosen colour palette and you can’t go far wrong.

If we’ve inspired you to get your interior designer hat on and decorate your home, why not take a look at our range of oak beams and oak floating shelves? As always, send some photos of your project to Traditional Beams – we’d love to feature your finished room on our website to inspire others!